Chapter 1

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Chapter 1: Turning Into a Building

Without a doubt, Tasha has crossed over.

Before her was a very dark hall, with no windows, and all four passages were blocked by collapsed rocks and soil. There were no candles lit inside, yet Tasha could see every corner and speck of dust in the shadows. She could even distinguish the colors of the floor tiles and could see everything in the hall clearly, including the parts buried under collapsed pillars.

There is a word not quite right in the above passage.

"Before her."

There was nothing "before her"; Tasha stared at the hall for at least three to four minutes without feeling the need to blink. She couldn’t feel her eyelids or eyeballs.

Exactly, her whole body felt nothing.

How did she see then?

Tasha had a strange feeling that in this hall, she seemed to have a "God’s eye view," as if playing a simulation of life without controlling the view like a computer. She had an all-knowing perspective but didn’t know where she was observing from.

Tasha vividly remembered that she had died in a car accident, no grudges, just bad luck. In the final moments before death, she unfortunately saw her torso half a meter away, looking like a ghost with no chance of survival with modern technology. The current situation could possibly be explained only by pre-death hallucinations, alien abductions, or time travel, any of which were better than being a pile of flesh. Tasha briefly felt sad for some friends she may never see again, a cat, a dog, some fish in a tank, and some potted plants, and then she composed herself and focused on her current situation.

Tasha couldn’t feel her body, but she could still "see," not sure if she could hear as it was too quiet there. The only space she could perceive seemed to be this dusty hall, where she could faintly make out the elaborate decorations, although it looked like it had been ravaged by an earthquake and buried, in a terrible state.

The hall was very spacious, almost the size of a museum’s main hall, with no decorations or furnishings, only a dried-up stone pool in the center, with a huge crack running through it. Several pillars lay on the ground, looking like they would shatter at the slightest touch. Fortunately, the thickest columns at the corners were mostly intact, probably preventing the hall from collapsing.

Tasha carefully searched the hall but found no bones, no living creatures, not even a single bug—thank goodness as she couldn’t bear the thought of insects crawling on her new body. She felt like the hall was wrapped in a cocoon of earth and stone, cut off from the outside world, where nothing from outside could come in, and her perception couldn’t go out.

Something shimmered at the bottom of the pool.

Looking back later, it wasn’t a flash at all but a "sensation" designed to divert attention, like a whirlpool appearing at the bottom of the water, drawing you in. Tasha instinctively looked over and suddenly felt like she was stepping into emptiness, with the awareness that flooded the entire building concentrated into a stone at the pool’s bottom.

This feeling was like being buried in a mudslide, everything was pitch-black in front of her. She couldn’t move an inch, and a suffocating force seemed to come from all directions. She was shocked and suddenly struggled.

These were the longest few minutes Tasha had ever experienced. She felt like a snake trying to wake up from hibernation under the shadow of an eagle, summoning all her strength to control her disobedient body. Her soul fire burned fiercely with a strong will to survive. The light mist within the stones surged and broke through relentlessly, hitting the dark and hard prison walls around her until visible light seeped through. As she fought, the dust around the stones fell softly, turning the heavy black stones into a deep red color. A dazzling pomegranate seed grew among the dust, floating gently in the air.

Like a fool suddenly becoming smart, or a baby discovering their own feet, Tasha abruptly realized her existence. She could gradually manipulate her soul as she used to control her body – it seemed mysterious, but in reality, it was unexpectedly simple, like pouring water from one cup into another.

Turning within the gemstones, she saw four symbols surrounding the pool. Although they were abstract lines, she instantly grasped their symbolism: a flame, flowing water, earth, and air. They accurately occupied the directions of east, west, south, and north, mysteriously difficult to decipher, strange as if they were from another world. Just by gazing at them, Tasha’s emotions surged. She felt a calling, a sense of belonging, as if she had found a guidepost in an endless maze. Holding her breath, Tasha stared at them, waiting.

And then…

And then, nothing.

The ruby’s faint aura ascended about half a foot, silently stopping there. The surroundings remained silent, not a sound from any birds, and not a single candle was lit, like an opening scene animation paused at a glitch after just starting. Tasha awkwardly floated above the pool ruins of an abandoned building, completely unsure of what to do next.

Unfortunately, she suddenly felt hungry.

The hunger struck out of nowhere, and Tasha felt like she could eat a whole calf in an instant. She reached into her pockets, quickly realizing that both her hands and pockets were illusions, just like her blinking and breathing, giving her a sense of normalcy but serving no real purpose. Was this real? She didn’t even have a stomach, so why was she so hungry?

Tasha imagined a big feast to trick her non-existent stomach, but it only made her even hungrier. She tried many ways, from praying to trying out different mystical methods from movies, books, and games, but none worked. Frustrated, Tasha resorted to banging on the barriers around her, even though it caused her pain.

A small crack appeared on the gemstone, followed by another. The cracks merged together, and a small piece of gravel-sized shard fell off, rolling onto the rune of "Earth".

The tiny shard melted instantly, turning into a halo of light that merged into the rune. Tasha stopped and looked over to see the scene shining like gold. The earth rune, which had only grooves before, now emitted a bright red light, filling every corner of the groove from start to finish, bursting into a radiant amber light.

The light swept through every corner of the hall, followed by a thunderous sound. Tasha freed herself from the gemstone, and the previously unbreakable invisible barriers now allowed her to come and go freely. She could sense something within the golden light, an ancient presence, even though she had not seen it yet. With a sense of confidence as the protagonist, Tasha knew what creature it would be.

Should it be called a creature?

It had claws that occupied one-third of its body size, capable of turning the hardest rocks as soft as tofu. It had no flesh and blood, its being composed of elements, without distinction between flesh and bones. It roamed underground, with dark and narrow tunnels as its domain. Some vague broken knowledge appeared in Tasha’s mind, not a premonition but a memory. At that moment, she realized clearly that she had summoned this being, paid a price to obtain its loyalty, making it the most faithful and reliable guardian, an extension of her body and consciousness. With her current condition, Tasha knew she could only do this once.

The golden light faded slowly, Tasha’s breath quickened, and in her mind flashed countless legendary monsters, her anticipation and worries reaching the peak at that moment. The golden light dispersed! Standing on the earth rune was a, umm…

Indeed, it had claws, a sandy yellow body composed of elements. It was certainly unafraid of the dark, and with its small beady eyes, it didn’t seem to rely on eyesight for survival. It had a pointed nose, and whiskers that now trembled in the air, sniffing around. Its body did not show the muscular strength of a fierce creature, nor the signs of agility; in fact, its body was… quite round.

In other words, it was chubby.

If it wasn’t Tasha’s only helper, she would say it’s quite cute.

However, this is the only Guardian Tasha can get at the moment, which she hoped would be her savior in times of trouble.

Oh dear, Tasha thought despairingly, what good is a mole to me?!

——————————

The senior officers at the long table looked unhappy.

The device was still glowing, its red light glaring like the sun. None of the people present had ever seen it shine like this before, and if the prophecy was correct, perhaps it had never shone so brightly in four hundred years.

In every corner of the Aryan Empire, fortune tellers were considered corrupt, inhuman, and hybridized with demons, but in the center of the empire, some descendants of fortune tellers still made predictions for the upper class in exchange for the survival of their families, which was tacitly accepted among high-ranking officers. Just half a year ago, fortune tellers from various families had made similar prophecies one after another.

The prophecy said: an ancient dungeon that could connect to the abyss and summon great demons is about to awaken.

The torch-like object on the table is an "Abyss Factor Tester," which can detect Abyss Factors within the empire, such as the awakening of Abyssal Descendants and the emergence of remaining wizards. In the prosperous era of the human empire Aryan, the only thing expected of it is absolute darkness, so that the officers who devote themselves to the prosperity of humanity no longer have to waste any energy on these trivial matters. But now it’s glowing, so brightly that if it’s not a dungeon awakening, then a great demon has already climbed to the surface.

Four hundred years after the abyss and the passage to the surface were cut off, that kind of situation would not happen again.

Finally, someone broke the silence.

"There is no need to be afraid," the youngest officer spoke up. "Hundreds of years ago, we could destroy countless dungeons, so we can certainly destroy this one now."

His statement gained quite a bit of agreement, but the officer with a goat-like beard sitting across from him frowned and countered, "It’s not the same as hundreds of years ago, General Shirel. Our city is spread far and wide. Have you thought about the damage that would be caused if we were to go to war with a dungeon?"

"Cities can be rebuilt, but evil cannot be tolerated!" the young general retorted. "Or has General Norman forgotten how to go to battle?"

"A wise person does not boast hastily. I believe General Shirel still needs more experience," the older man hinted.

"I…"

"I’m glad to see you all are eager, but unfortunately, we don’t have much time for quarreling."

A raised hand silenced Shirel’s retort. The leader surveyed all the officers present until they all respectfully lowered their heads.

The devil and spirits have left long ago, who can create a new dungeon? Until it’s fully restored, it’s just a ruin left by the previous era. General Shirel, you won’t give it a chance to restore, right? The leader nodded in the young officer’s assurance, calmly concluding, "Then, I hope this matter ends here."

The leader stood up, all the officers stood up. "Aryan Lord lives on forever! Aryan Empire lasts forever!" They praised in unison. After the ceremony, these elite members who held the lifeline of Aryan left the venue one by one.